Roman Republican coinage constitutes one of the most fascinating and complex chapters in ancient numismatics. Its development reflects the political, economic, and social evolution of Rome from the expulsion of the kings (509 BC) to the establishment of the Empire (27 BC).
Before the introduction of coined currency, Rome used pre-monetary forms of exchange such as cattle, aes rude (undefined bronze ingots), and aes signatum (marked bronze plaques). The first proper coin was the aes grave, a heavy bronze as, cast and marked with symbols of value, which functioned both as a unit of weight and account.
The denarius (plural: denarii) was the most emblematic and widely used silver coin of the Roman Republic, and its history is deeply linked to the economic, political and military evolution of Rome since the end of the 3rd century BC.
The denarius was introduced around 211 BC, in the midst of the Second Punic War, as part of a monetary reform intended to finance the massive war effort against Carthage and to unify the Roman monetary system, which until then was diverse and based on bronze (the aes grave). Its name comes from its original value: it was equivalent to ten bronze ases, hence the term denarius (from deni, "ten" in Latin).
